Chapter 4

Katherine has a rough time accepting some of the rules of Hex Academy, but gets a lesson in what she can really do with the mysterious Hex Driver she is forced to wear.

Before the guy sat down and told me what was going on, I took a big look at the cafeteria. It was huge, bigger than any cafeteria I’ve known a school to have. Hex Academy itself was like a giant castle, filling in every chair with a student who was classed between the ranks of a normal high school. The walls looked like stone, from a castle. The ceiling was so high up, probably enough to make another two rooms out of it. The walls in the hallway were something you’d see out of a castle, too. Or maybe Hogwarts from Harry Potter, all dungeon-y like and old. It was, according to my newest guide, the largest structure on the entire island.

And now my guide tried to go over different policies and cliques and rules that Hex Academy had in place, ones the students tried to make up themselves, and in the end it was a pretty big struggle to stay awake. When it was over, I asked myself, “Do I really want to be here?” To which I then thought, who knows. The answer was probably not.

The guide was another senior, wearing a blue uniform. He was more muscular looking than the last guide, Simon, and talked in a really deep voice. It reminded me of a voice you’d see on a commercial that had a narrator. He said his name was Ryan Dunwith, even spelled it out for me. Ryan was the one who tried to tell me that the arm bands all the kids were getting nowadays, the next new trend, were enforced with some kind of magic. In the beginning, I thought he was nuts. There was no way any of this was real and must have been part of the hazing portion of my orientation. But as he kept talking about it, my mind went back to the psycho girl in the hallway. Claire. She had one of these arm bands, and it lit up, and an arrow made of some sort of light shot by my head, nearly taking a chunk out of my ear. If that didn’t happen, Ryan would sound like a psychopath. But now I was open to his rant.

“We don’t know what they are, how they do it,” he said, “but the Hex Driver allows us to use magic that is individual for each of us. The scientists say that the potential has been within mankind for centuries, but it was never released. They found a way to release it through it.”

I had to admit, it sounded like some Harry Potter stuff. Maybe Ryan read all seven books in a week, which seemed nuts. It fit, though. “Yeah, that sounds cool and all, but really crazy. Are you sure we’re not in a secret asylum?”

At my joke, Ryan’s face contorted. He gave me a disappointed look, then said, “I’m sure that we are not. Our school is different, better than the mainland junk.”

My mind was floating around. Let’s play into it. “When am I getting my uniform and magic bracelet?” Still, Ryan’s expression was angry. He shook his head and didn’t answer. “Or when can I go to my first class?”

Again, he shook his head. “Never. Especially with that mouth, Claire will find you and hurt you.”

My mind snapped. I stood up, drawing attention to the loud scraping sound of the chair against the floor. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at the new girl, at me. My face burned with embarrassment. “She is the psycho, the one who needs to watch herself. I bet she has no friends if that is how she greets new people.”

“Claire is actually a well-liked senior by a lot of people.” Ryan looked away. “Listen, I’ll keep the rest simple. Don’t stick your nose in Senior business, stay with your class when tests start, and don’t use the more powerful spells inside the school. If you get any good at controlling it, you can challenge Claire. She’ll wipe the floor with you, but you can get your frustrations out.”

I walked away. I didn’t know where I was going, but knew enough not to just stand there and talk Ryan’s crap talk. Simon should have just continued the orientation. It was ruined, and the only thing I felt like doing was running away and staying home. My parents couldn’t home-school me, but it would maybe make them move back.

But I didn’t go to the front door. The halls were empty because tons of students were in the classrooms. Ryan hadn’t tried to follow me, and Simon must have returned to class. None of the school aids were out and about. At the end of one of the castle hallways, I took a turn and followed that until the end. There must have been six branching hallways from just this one. It was a big school, and I was bound to get lost. Again, another turn. I stopped and looked all the way down, seeing even more branching halls reaching to more unknown locations. The doors didn’t have windows on them, so I couldn’t peek in as I walked through.

A figure suddenly popped out from around the corner of one of the branching hallways. I yelled out, jumping backwards. It was an old man in a janitor uniform, a grayish colored. In his hand was a yellow school uniform, for freshman. He handed it to me, extending his short arms as far as he could without looking threatening.

“Thank you,” I said, taking it.

“A bathroom is just down this hall. Then report to the Principal’s office,” the man’s voice sounded as robotic as Simon’s did. He nodded to me and walked back to the cart of cleaning supplies. As he walked, his sneakers squeaked. Taking a look at the floor, they were shiny blue and white tiles that he must have just cleaned.

The bathroom looked like one for royalty. It’s sinks and toilets were spotless, and it was just too fancy looking for me. I took to one of the last stalls, and began to undress. The uniform looked small at first glance, and no one did measurements. In no way was I super busty, but I wasn’t flat either. If it didn’t fit, I’d just be a laughing tool for other students. Surprisingly, it fit perfectly. Even over my chest.

Now just to find my way to the offices. I didn’t see any in front of the school like some have them, and I was pretty sure I was only in the middle of the school’s maze-like halls. But the offices wouldn’t be in the back, for visitors, would they? Luckily, a map of the school was just down the hall, where it stopped going straight and only offered a left or right. The star, representing where I was, had been in the middle. As I scanned it for the offices, I saw the layout. The school was the biggest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, and probably would be for the rest of it. Finally, I found a thin, white line going from a group of squares to the outer margin of the map and connected to the word “Offices”.

When I got there, I knocked lightly. A receptionist opened the door and took my name. She waved me past her, keeping the door open. “Welcome, Katherine Garcia.” Her voice was perky, like she was happy to be here and couldn’t think of being anywhere else.

The Principal’s office was set in the back, furthest office room there was. The door said, in big letters, Principal’s. A metal bar attached to the door said a name. Mrs. Hexalton. I paused mid-step. Even her name had “Hex” in it. What was it with this school and that shape?

“Come in,” a voice said from inside. The door opened and I couldn’t see anyone behind it. Mrs. Hexalton was sitting behind a large, dark wood desk. Her hand had a faint glow around it, which when she waved it, the door closed behind me. “Katherine, I assume?”

“Yes,” I said, but got a look from her when I paused. “Ma’am.”

“I hear from some students that a student named Claire had started a bit of a difficult introduction into the school. Now, I apologize for any problems. Ryan, the senior guide, told me you didn’t believe him as to what we do here.” She waved to another door in the office and out came a scientist with big, dorky glasses. He was some older guy, thin--almost frail and zombie looking. “This is your Hex Driver.”

“My own Hex Driver? I don’t know if I am ready for this, uh, belief system you’ve built here.” I didn’t know what else to call it in the moment. It got a short laugh from the Principal, but the scientist moved closer. “Please don’t.”

“We have too. Take it.”

“I don’t want it.”

Hexalton’s hand started to glow, and I felt my body go numb. My hands were glued to the arms of the chair I was sitting in, my feet felt way too heavy to move. “There is no question here. You need this to be a part of our school. Go ahead, put it on her,” she said the last part to the zombie scientist. He cracked a smile and started to place the armband around me.

I begged for them not too, but the guy went through with it. The inside looked shiny gold, but had a few weird spots. As it connected to my skin, my entire arm began to burn. The stinging set in and I screamed. Hexalton closed her hand into a fist and my mouth closed against my will. Hot tears welled in my eyes. Within a couple minutes, most of the pain subsided. The Hex Driver was flashing, beeping, and then stopped.

“All done,” the scientist said, returning to the extra door and retreating from the scene back into his lab.

Mrs. Hexalton had a wicked smile on her face, like she was used to getting her way and it made her better than everyone. At least, that’s what I got from it. “You should take a trip to the gym, in the back of the school. Test out the new magical properties the “bracelet” gives you.”

“I just want to go home,” I mumbled.

There was an aid called to assist me to the gym. And once more, I was forced to do something against my will. My arm underneath the Hex Driver still had a slight burn to it, and it felt like something had cut into my arm but I saw no blood trailing down to my hand.

The gym was a normal looking inside, wooden floor gym. In thick painted lines, was the outline to a basketball court. The aid pressed a black button on the wall, and on the other side of the gym opened up three floor plates. Up from them came straw dummies of what looked like a person, some kind of animal, and some kind of monster. All of them were different sizes; the animal was small, the person was the middle, and the monster was the largest.

“Try out your spells. Try and hit all three targets to see your range, aim, and power.” The middle-aged woman stepped off to the side, waving for me to get started.

“I don’t know what I am doing,” I told her. She shook her head, disapprovingly. She told me to focus and let it happen, so I did. My Hex Driver had a faint glow to it, but I didn’t feel anything different, and I certainly didn’t see any magic arrows.

Then I did. But it wasn’t mine. I quickly turned to see Claire standing over by the aid. “Ryan told me what you said. I’m going to teach you how to use your Driver so we can face off.”

Great. She moved closer and let her magic flow to her arm. As she swung it in an upward motion, a visible blade of energy formed and shot forward, knocking into the monster dummy.

“The first ability you should learn is a Bullet type, or projectile. Start focusing on the magic inside of you, shape it into a ball in your mind,” Claire said. I did, and soon the Driver on my arm was glowing. “Imagine it in your hand, like you’re holding it. Then toss it.” Again, I did, and something shot from me! Something was thrown by me, a ball of dark light. It hit the human and burned a light hole in it’s chest.

“That was cool,” I said.

“That was odd,” Claire said. “These dummies are made with special straw, and your burn mark wasn’t supposed to last. It should have disappeared by now.”